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1. Why you were looking forward to going to the
ground (or not as the case may be):
I’d
never made the journey to Scunthorpe (think we’d only played at Glanford park
once prior to this game) so was looking forward to, hopefully, a nice day
coupled with a decent result.
2. How easy was your journey/finding
the ground/car parking?
We
caught the train from Birmingham New Street to Derby, changed there to get to Sheffield where we had
a pint in a pub near the station whilst watching a sports channel to see
whether the game was going to be called off or not and we made our final
connection to Scunthorpe from
there. There are walking signs for Glanford Park as soon as you walk out of the
station.
3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans
friendly?
We
fancied a drink so walked right across the traffic lights down Oswald Road
and walked into The Honest Lawyer, a pub that had a fair few local
Scunthorpe fans and a handful of Baggies
also. After a few pints, we had half an hour to get to the ground
and the friendly locals were telling us that it would take near on half an
hour (we had a eight year old with us) to walk so they called us a cab
which dropped us off at the Garden Centre next to the ground. We
returned to the same pub after the game as we’d missed our first train
back into Sheffield and so had an hour or
so to kill. Once again, the local Scunthorpe supporters made us feel
very welcome, which was nice when you consider that we’d beat them after
the referee sent off two United players and awarded The Albion two
penalties. The next time we’re playing Scunthorpe, I am most definitely coming back, it’s
experiences like this that put your faith back into supporting your
football club after the sanitised away days you sometimes experience in
the Premier League.
4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first
impressions of away end then other sides of the
ground?
I
thought it looked a lot like the Walsall
ground, fully enclosed, showing signs to wear and tear in places.
Upon seeing the away end I was happy to note that our seats were in row J
so we had a decent view onto the pitch which looked extremely narrow and
short. This was later proven to be the case as a lot of long throws
were entering the box from the sidelines (I’m sure Rory Delap could throw
from one side to the other). The side to our left housed the dugouts
and the family section, the side to our right housed more home supporters
and about a third was used for more Albion fans. The stand opposite ours was some
good old fashioned terracing for the home fans.
5. Comment on the
game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets
etc..
West
Brom’ won
the game 3-1. We took the lead on the 20 minute mark or so through
Graham Dorrans. United equalised within a minute of the restart as
Albion dithered whilst the opposition
took a quick corner. West Brom’
retook the lead after United were reduced to ten men (second booking for
the right back), Dorrans was felled in the box and he scored from the
resulting penalty kick. He took a further penalty kick about ten
minutes later after Luke Moore was fouled (another sending off for a
United player for abusive language to the official I think) and Dorrans
stepped up to complete his hat trick but Albion old boy Joe Murphy went
low to his right and saved. Albion got the third and final goal with
about five minutes remaining, Brunt squaring the ball to Zuiverloon inside
the box, took one touch to control and hit it high past Murphy with his
right foot. With regards to the facilities, there was no alcohol on
sale inside the ground which wasn’t that much of an issue for me (or for
others it appeared), the food looked ok though I am told they ran out of
hot dogs. The toilets were surprisingly large in size.
6.
Comment on getting away from the ground after the
game:
Getting
away from the ground seemed easy, well organised. We got a taxi back
to The Honest Lawyer and watched the first half of the Newcastle v Derby game and then made the reversal of
the train journey we’d made earlier that day. Left Birmingham at
9am, returned home at 9pm.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the
day out:
Awesome, as
I’ve mentioned earlier, it is away days like these that restore your faith
in football. I’d like to tip my cap once again to the Scunthorpe
fans who were awesome in their appreciation of the Albion fans and their hospitality was second to
none. |
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